Sweet home, Chicago. There is no better city in the world to me. From the downtown skyline to the cool beaches, Chicago has so much to offer and will always be my home base. With a large metropolitan area, Chicago boasts some of the best restaurants around the city and surrounding areas. The diverse population in and around Little Italy, Jew Town, Chinatown, Andersonville (known for its Swedish roots) and hundreds more neighborhoods has created a burgeoning food scene, yet I am not locked in by any of these boundaries. I enjoy trying foods from all over the city and there are always new ones cropping up every week. Being in New York now makes me miss my local stops, but that shouldn’t prevent those of you in the Windy City from all the tastes in town. Here are a few of my Must-Have eats whenever I’m in Chicago: Read More

By admin | January 3, 2012

Ever think you’d see the famous Chef Rick Bayless partake in a full-on magical theater performance? Well buckle your seat belts, because you’re in for a ride! Rick Balyess is working in collaboration with Lookingglass Theater Company on the production of “Cascabel: Dinner – Daring – Desire, an unforgettable theatrical adventure featuring a sumptuous feast, world-class circus acts, and a tantalizing love story starring celebrity chef Rick Bayless.”

If a dinner with the menu created by Rick Bayless wasn’t magical enough, the chef himself is also acting in the production Read More

This week in our Soul Food Series, we discuss soul food in Chicago and its traditional approach to this historic cuisine. Chicago is a city that is rich in food culture. This Midwestern mecca has so many flavors to offer that if may be hard to decide which one best represents the city. Perhaps the most important of these food traditions is soul food, a part of the city’s DNA that is irreplaceable, but recently has begun to evolve.

The emergence of soul food in Chicago came during a time many know as The Great Migration. From 1910 to 1930 more than 1.5 million African Americans migrated from Southern roots to Midwest, West and Northern cities. Read More

By admin | September 20, 2011

I wanted to take a minute to give a big shout out to Chef Charlie Trotter in Chicago. After being in the food business for over 25 years, he still manages to stay on top of his game and proved so by receivingÂ 4 stars from the Chicago Tribune.Â Congrats Charlie!

Charlie Trotter opened Charlie Trotter’s (Chicago) in 1987 with his father, Bob Trotter as his partner. The restaurant has been open for 25 years. What’s most inspiring about Charlie is that he never went to culinary school, and is completely self taught!Read More

By admin | July 1, 2011

Photo: anthonycramp on flickr

If you don’t feel like planning a Fourth of July celebration this weekend, why not just leave it to the professionals this year? Head on over to some of the finest establishments in your city to help you out this Independence Day. Check out these greatÂ restaurants (some with good views of the fireworks!) that are having celebrations around the country. Read More

By mahir | June 15, 2011

This summer, take a break from working and go enjoy so fun in the sun. There are a lot of great activities happening all the time in cities all over the country. Here’s just a taste of what’s going on.Â Read More

By mahir | April 25, 2011

Women We Admire By Julia Burgi

Lauren Pett, of Rich Chocolates, is living her dream: she ditched the cubicle for pastry school and has created her own chocolate and candies company, where each piece is a hand-made piece of art! Read More

Newsletter

By Suzannah Schneider

Meet the Team

Whether it’s finding the best goat tacos in LA, spotting a well-worn vintage bag in Sweden, or interviewing the “crab man” selling seafood on a corner in Harlem, we tell stories seen from Chef Marcus Samuelsson‘s point of view. MarcusSamuelsson.com strives to create conversations about food, nutrition, culture, art, and design. We want to find Read More